w that cattle
hardly paid for raising; whole English counties were ruined. And Edward
allowed his tenants very high rebates.

To do both justice Leonora has since acknowledged that she was in the
wrong at that time and that Edward was following out a more far-seeing
policy in nursing his really very good tenants over a bad period. It was
not as if the whole of his money came from the land; a good deal of it
was in rails. But old Colonel Powys had that bee in his bonnet and, if
he never directly approached Edward himself on the subject, he preached
unceasingly, whenever he had the opportunity, to Leonora. His pet idea
was that Edward ought to sack all his own tenants and import a set of
farmers from Scotland. That was what they were doing in Essex. He was of
opinion that Edward was riding hotfoot to ruin.

That worried Leonora very much--it worried her dreadfully; she lay
awake nights; she had an anxious line round her mouth. And that, again,
worried Edward. I do not mean to say that Leonora actually spoke to
Edward about his tenants--but he got to know that some one, probably
her father, had been talking to her about the matter. He got to know it
because it was the habit of his steward to look in on them every morning
about breakfast-time to report any little happenings. And there was a
farmer called Mumford who had only paid half his rent for the last
three years. One morning the land-steward reported that Mumford would be
unable to pay his rent at all that year. Edward reflected for a moment
and then he said something like:

"Oh well, he's an old fellow and his family have been our tenants for
over two hundred years. Let him off altogether."

And then Leonora--you must remember that she had reason for being very
nervous and unhappy at that time--let out a sound that was very like a
groan. It startled Edward, who more than suspected what was passing in
her mind--it startled him into a state of anger. He said sharply:

"You wouldn't have me turn out people who've been earning money for us
for centuries--people to whom we have responsibilities--and let in a
pack of Scotch farmers?"

He looked at her, Leonora said, with what was practically a glance of
hatred and then, precipitately, he left the breakfast-table. Leonora
knew that it probably made it all the worse that he had been betrayed
into a manifestation of anger before a third party. It was the first and
last time that he ever was betrayed into such a manifest